Huge Mural Goes Up in One Loudoun

Looks like One Loudoun will be the next community in the county to embrace public art.

There’s a massive, 6,000-square-foot mural going up on the west side of the property, along the back of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Julie Dillon, One Loudoun’s director of marketing, said the idea to commission a mural came as the staff was brainstorming ways to beautify that part of the community.

“The thought was, we’re building these beautiful homes behind Alamo Drafthouse, and they’re looking across the street at this great 100-acre park and behind them is the back of the Alamo Drafthouse,” she said. “We thought it’d be nice to not only offer a benefit to those homeworkers but also to guests to One Loudoun.”

Richmond-based artist Steve Hedberg was hired to take the lead on the project. He brought on artists Matt Lively and Ed Trask, the latter a Loudoun native now living in Richmond. The trio was asked to create the mural based on One Loudoun’s five guiding principles: harmony, social, connected, organic and urban.

The artwork shows a plane flying over tall buildings, a train that depicts Loudoun’s rail history and the coming Metro stations, and Lively’s signature “beecycles,” bees riding bicycles.

“They really put a lot of thought into the principles and how they would create images that brought those words to life,” Dillon said. “It’s really fascinating what they’ve done.”

The artists started painting the mural in mid-June and are expected to wrap up their work by mid-July.